Said It Here

How to stop my cat from stealing human food

Cats can become relentlessly determined to eat everything from baked goods to soup, forcing owners to physically lock up pantry items just to keep them safe. This constant scavenging behavior makes it nearly impossible to leave meals or snacks unattended around the house.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Refusing to give them human food
  2. 2
    Hiding food or keeping it out of unattended areas
  3. 3
    Giving in occasionally to small safe pieces or letting them lick wrappers
  4. 4
    Hiding bread in cupboards or secure containers

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/cats2 people · September 2026

We adopted a cat last month and she has made herself at home (yay) she has now decided she is dead set on eating human food. We have not let her of course but she has tried to get the following from me: -tomato soup, waffles, white bread, eggs, cupcake and sausage.source ↗

AnxiousAndLame · r/cats · 2 upvotes

We have to hide bread in our house or it end of on the floor, bag muched on by a cat then destroyed by dogs.source ↗

MercuryTattedRachael · r/cats · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised